A roof top cargo carrier provides extra luggage space for a vehicle, and is normally secured to the vehicle's luggage rack via roof top attachment hardware. Since a roof top cargo carrier is rather large and bulky, it can be difficult to store when removed from the vehicle, particularly if space is limited in a storage area.
One approach for storing a vehicle roof top cargo carrier is a hoist-based system provided by Thule. The hoist-based system is operated with a number of pulleys for lifting the cargo carrier off the ground so that it is stored adjacent the ceiling in the storage area. Each pulley is separately mounted to the ceiling, and a rope extends down from each pulley to loop under the cargo carrier. A common cross member providing tension and control for the rope is also mounted to the ceiling.
While effective, the hoist-based storage device by Thule requires a considerate amount of effort to properly align and mount the pulleys to the ceiling of the storage area. Moreover, operation of the hoist-based storage device can be rather cumbersome due to the lengthy amount of rope used to hoist the cargo carrier from the ground to the ceiling. Additionally, the hoist-based storage device places the roof top attachment hardware for the cargo carrier at head level when the cargo carrier is raised to the ceiling, which is potentially dangerous for someone walking underneath.